Artist information folder

The Artist Information Folder in Symfonium enables you to centrally store and manage metadata and artwork related to artists in your media library. By using this feature, you can enhance your music browsing experience with rich metadata, images, and tags associated with each artist.

Notes

• The feature is compatible with Kodi Artist information folder (https://kodi.wiki/view/Artist_information_folder) to keep a common and simple format for more applications.
• The feature is only available for providers scanned by the Symfonium parser.

Folder Structure

Select the Artist info folder in the settings of a compatible provider scanned by the Symfonium parser. The selected folder can be anywhere the provider can access. If you do not select one, Symfonium looks for a folder named ArtistInfo at the root of each configured media-library source.

The folder must follow this structure:

SelectedArtistInfoFolder/
    ├── ArtistName1/
    │   ├── artist.nfo
    │   ├── fanart.jpg
    │   ├── thumb.jpg
    │   └── ...additional images...
    └── ArtistName2/
        ├── artist.nfo
        ├── fanart.jpg
        ├── thumb.jpg
        └── ...additional images...

• Selected folder: Can be selected explicitly in the provider settings. The root-level ArtistInfo name and location are only the automatic fallback when no folder is selected.
• Artist folders: Each artist must have their own folder, named as they appear in your music library. The folder name does not need to match perfectly, but the name inside the NFO file must.

Supported Files

Symfonium supports several types of files within each artist folder:

NFO File

An artist.nfo file contains metadata about the artist in XML format. Symfonium supports the majority of tags used by Kodi, with an additional support for the tag element, functioning similarly to genre to categorize artists further.

Example NFO XML structure:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<artist>
    <name>Artist Name</name>
    <musicBrainzArtistID>MBID-Here</musicBrainzArtistID>
    <genre>Rock</genre>
    <tag>Alternative</tag>
    <tag>Indie</tag>
    <mood>Happy</mood>
    <biography>Detailed artist biography here.</biography>
    <style>Rock/Pop</style>
    <instrument>Vocals</instrument>
    <instrument>Guitar</instrument>
    <thumb aspect="thumb">https://assets.fanart.tv/fanart/music/64b94289-9474-4d43-8c93-918ccc1920d1/artistthumb/joel-billy-541603848114c.jpg</thumb>
    <thumb aspect="fanart">https://www.theaudiodb.com/images/media/artist/fanart/uwqtup1521206367.jpg</thumb>
</artist>

Using Hyperlinks in Artist Biography:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<artist>
    <name>Artist Name</name>
    <gender>Gender</gender>
    <biography><![CDATA[Detailed artist biography here
  <a href="URL">Visible (Hyperlink)Text</a>]]></biography>
</artist>

Supported NFO entries

entry	Description
sortname	The artist sort name
type	The artist type (Singer, Band, Orchestra, …)
gender	The artist gender
biography	The artist biography
genre	The artist genres
style	The artist styles
mood	The artist moods
tag	The artist tags
instrument	The artist instruments
thumb	The artist images, use the aspect attribute “thumb” or “fanart”

Artwork

Symfonium supports various artwork types placed directly within the artist folder:

Filename	Description
fanart.jpg/jpeg/png	Static fanart of the artist
fanart.webp/gif	Animated fanart of the artist
thumb.jpg/jpeg/png or folder.jpg/jpeg/png	Static artist picture
thumb.webp/gif or folder.webp/gif	Animated artist picture

Additional images can also be specified via URLs in the artist.nfo file.

Images inside the folder have priority over URLs inside the NFO file. Only the first entry of each image type is used from the NFO.

Matching artist info with your library

To avoid wrong matching Symfonium use the following rules:

• If there’s a name and a musicBrainzArtistID value in the the NFO then the artists in your tags must have them both too.
• If an artist does not have an musicBrainzArtistID in the NFO then it must not have one in your tags.

If the artist.nfo contains a value, like sortname or tags then they will take precedence over your tags.

Usage Recommendations

• Keep artist name in the nfo exactly matching the names in your tags by Symfonium.
• Include high-quality artwork for optimal visual presentation.
• Use comprehensive and detailed metadata in the NFO files for richer library browsing and discovery.

By following these guidelines, you can significantly enhance your media library experience within Symfonium.

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